Inside Our $240,000 Dividend Portfolio: Which Pays Us $1,300 Per Month

I remember working at McDonald’s for $4.25/hour in California back in 1997. I used to work hard for money, thinking it would set me free one day. 

Unfortunately, that’s not how financial freedom works. You’ll need to have your money work for you to escape the rat race.

There are many ways to earn passive income, including automated business, royalties, and real estate. But my all-time favorite way is through dividend investing.

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Why dividends? Why now? Dividends are the most passive type of passive income. As long as you understand the stock market and your investment philosophy, there isn’t much to dividend investing.

With inflation at 40-year highs, we all need as much financial assistance as possible. Enter dividends. Dividend income is a great way to supplement your income through your working and retirement years.

I worked hard for money until age 38, when I realized it wasn’t working so well. I then pivoted to collecting assets and building streams of passive income.

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Four years later (age 42), the fruits of our labor are paying off. Our dividend portfolio brings us great monthly joy, so I wanted to give everyone a look inside.

My five brokerage accounts. I use five different brokerage accounts, with a sixth (SoFi) on the way. Why use so many?

Each brokerage account has its own personality. I discuss it further in “Dividend Investing 103: Picking Your Platform.”

I divide dividend investing into index funds, dividend growth investing, and income investing.

Each brokerage has a mixture of all three categories, making each one self-contained from the other.

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However, each platform has its own investing quirks. For example, Cash App doesn’t have closed-end funds or preferred shares. Wells Fargo doesn’t support fractional investing, and I can trade options on Charles Schwab.

Together, they make each day special. I receive dividends about 15 days a month. I have a lot of overlap in securities between the accounts, but each has its unique investments. My wife has four brokerage accounts. Let’s explore this further. 

Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo is my favorite brokerage account because it supports all my income-investing products.

I have tons of preferred shares, closed-end funds, business development units, and mortgage REITs. Average monthly payments: $400.

Portfolio heroes: Pimco Funds (PDI, PDO, PTY), Eagle Point Credit (ECC), and Oxford Lane (OXLC).

Cash App. I love Cash App because it delivers my dividend directly to my Cash App debit card; I call it my Dividend Debit Card.

Cash App has a limited selection of income-investing securities, which is great because it makes me diversify into other high-yield securities. Average monthly payments: $250.

Portfolio Heroes: Altria (MO), Annaly Capital (NLY), AGNC (AGNC), Ares Capital (ARCC), and Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI).

M1 Finance. M1 Finance is a wonderful platform because you can drop your deposit into an investment “pie.” The platform does the heavy lifting of buying the best products of the day.

However, it doesn’t work so well when you want to inject income or dividends directly into one particular security. I also love the high-yield savings account and debit card functions. Average monthly payments: $250.

Portfolio Heroes: Exxon Mobil (XOM), Medical Property Trust (MPW), Phillip Morris (PM), British Tobacco (BTI).

Charles Schwab. Charles Schwab is a great brokerage to diversify. It has fractional investing, options trading, and all my favorite income-investing products.

I am a level 1 options trader who can sell covered calls and cash-secured puts. Average monthly payments: $90.

Portfolio heroes: Apple (APPL), Costco (COST), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and Public Storage (PSA).

STASH. Stash is my favorite platform for dividend growth investing. It lets me easily dollar-cost average, inject money directly into particular stocks, and transfer money into a holding area to invest later.

I also have five custodial accounts under STASH for my kids, nephews, and niece. Average monthly payments: $80.

Portfolio heroes: Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T), Mastercard (MA), Vector Group (VGR), Microsoft (MFST), T. Rowe Price (TROW).

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Extra dividends. My wife also has roughly $57,000 across four brokerage accounts. I opened my SoFi account last week and have about $220 invested thus far.

Our long-term dividend plans. Dividend investing is a way of life for us now—the only thing more fun than dividend investing is receiving dividends.

Although I retired from the military, I aim to live entirely on dividends. This will allow us to invest our entire pension into more dividends. 

It’s important to remember that we make our money outside the stock market via high-yield investments like renting rooms.

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Building a large dividend portfolio is tough by working a 9-5 job. You’ll need to live below your means and create a wealth generator.

Conclusion. A wealth generator can be a room rental, renting a car on Turo, a vending machine, or a YouTube channel.

The goal is to “create” money in the real world and then invest that money into your dividend portfolio.

How We Built 13 Streams of Income

If you want to understand how to generate infinite returns outside the stock market, I recommend “Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing” and “The Millionaire Fastlane.”

I will start diving deeper into each of my portfolios. I have some hidden gems that have really elevated my income.

If you are interested in dividend investing, let me know how I can help. I am always looking for ways to get people into the dividend game. Good Luck!

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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it.  I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. All Right Reserved Military Family Investing